DAC/Headphone amp as line out

[MrNice13]

Hi

I currently having problem streaming Qobuz via UAPP so I now want to listen some music on the desktop Qobuz app of my girlfriend Mac with my big cans.
My Samsung dongle doesn't work (weirdly xD) with the Mac so I've plugged my iBasso DC03 that does have volume button on it but I want it louder than the dongle can produce.

I know that normally you can't plug headphone out as a line to another device on a receiver or bigger system.

So my question is.. is that possible to plug a 3.5mm to RCA from the headphone out of the dongle to another headphone amp (without built in DAC). I suspect that the dongle is going to be set to high gain and I set the dongle volume to 100 and playing with the amp knob, but could this can cause problem like noise distortion whatever other than cranking the amp volume to cause distortion in the HP's? In another words the dongle can't really act like a dedicated ONLY DAC right...?

Thanks guys

Cheers

 

[solderdude]

I know that normally you can't plug headphone out as a line to another device on a receiver or bigger system.

This generally is not an issue at all.
I would even say it may even improve signal quality when you do as the line-in won't load the headphone out resulting in less distortion.

Forget about the whole 'double amping is bad' nonsense floating around on the interwebs.

In another words the dongle can't really act like a dedicated ONLY DAC right...?

This will work just fine but the output voltage may well be a bit on the low side so you may need an amp with some gain.

 

[DVDdoug]

I know that normally you can't plug headphone out as a line to another device on a receiver or bigger system.

Actually you CAN. Headphone voltage is in the same range as line-level. The headphone output is capable of driving a lower impedance load (it's capable of more current). The other difference is that headphone outputs always have a volume control whereas line outputs sometimes don't.

but could this can cause problem like noise distortion whatever other than cranking the amp volume to cause distortion in the HP's?

The dongle shouldn't clip (distort) unless the digital data is clipping. Every analog stage adds noise and of course every amplification stage amplifies the noise along with the signal. The noise may not be audible and there are lot of variables including the sensitivity or your headphones... More sensitive headphones make everything louder, including the noise.

 

[MrNice13]

Forget about the whole 'double amping is bad' nonsense floating around on the interwebs.

Yeah I see that a lot of time.
Yeah the gain switch would be beneficial if I'm using this setup for iems but for bigger cans it's not a problem this chip in the amp is the TI NE5534 I've got enough gain for big cans

 

[MrNice13]

Headphone voltage is in the same range as line-level. The headphone output is capable of driving a lower impedance load (it's capable of more current). The other difference is that headphone outputs always have a volume control whereas line outputs sometimes don't.

So if I have a DAC/HP amp plugged in my PC via optical and want to use another headphone amp I can line out from the latter other than RCA to RCA. Like @solderdude said it would even improve the signal.

 

[Jimbob54]

Why not just plug the headphone amp into the 3.5mm on the mac? Why do you need the dongle?

Also, have you tried just plugging the headphone into the headphone out of the mac? Some of them very decent headphone out.

 

[MrNice13]

Also, have you tried just plugging the headphone into the headphone out of the mac? Some of them very decent headphone out.

Not enough power but the idea of pluggin the headphone amp directly in the headphone socket is a good one duhh why I don't think about that hahaha thanks @Jimbob54